Draft:TEAM DRIFT 4091
---- Team DRIFT 4091 is the FRC robotics team of the Carol Morgan School. It was founded in the fall of 2011 as a club at the Carol Morgan School of Santo Domingo. The team is composed of students of the Carol Morgan School (CMS) and members of the organization Dale un Chance. The team participates in the FIRST Robotics Competition since the year 2012 when it attended its first regional competition. The teams mission is to promote Science, Math, Engineering, Technology, and Business through robotics in its school, community, and the world at large. In 2017 Team DRIFT became the first Caribbean team to win the Chairman's Award and won it once again in the 2018 Silicon Valley Regional in San Jose, California. History Team DRIFT (Dominican Robotics Incredible First Team) was created by a group of freshmen at the Carol Morgan School (CMS) in the fall of 2011 with the purpose of introducing STEM education to their school. These students understood from the very beginning that FIRST was not just about robotics it was about using STEM to help their community grow. These students were starting a technological revolution in a developing country. In March of 2012 the team participated for the first time in the FIRST Robotics Competition with their robot Sharkatron 2.0, during their first year the team had an outstanding performance finishing in 3rd place. During the first 2 years the team slowly grew and started touring the Dominican Republic with the mission to implement FIRST's programs in other schools. In 2013 they found a school willing to implement the program and begin the second FRC team of the Dominican Republic Team FORCE 4707 at La Comunidad Educativa Lux Mundi. Team DRIFT helped Team Force during its first years, but kept advocating for STEM education and the implementation of FIRST programs in other schools. After 4 years the third team to carry the Dominican flag was introduced Team FORCE 7231. In 2014 the FIRST LEGO League was introduced to the Dominican Republic, the program was introduced after a group of mentors and professionals were inspired by the participation of Team DRIFT and Team FORCE in the FIRST Robotics Competition. FLL has had an enormous growth in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean at large, over 120 teams attended the 2018 FLL Caribbean Regional hosted at the Carol Morgan School. During its seven years Team DRIFT has participated in numerous activities to promote STEM in the Dominican Republic, it has worked with clubs from within its school like Project Girl or Aldeas SOS as-well as partnered with organization like Dale un Chance to introduce STEM into the lives of academically outstanding students from underprivileged backgrounds. The team has had a massive impact within its school inspiring the creation of five maker-spaces and the implementation of STEM education into the schools curriculum, it has also inspired the introduction of robotics courses from Middle School to High School and the introduction of electives such as AP Computer Science and FIRST Design and Planning. Present Day Team DRIFT is currently comprised of a group of 55 students and 10 mentors. The team is funded through partnerships with local business and fundraisers. In the past five years Team DRIFT has won the three most prestigious awards offered by FIRST in 2013 at the Orlando Regional Team DRIFT was awarded the Engineering Inspiration Award, in 2017 at the Hudson Valley Regional the teams main mentor was awarded the Woodie Flower's Finalist Award and the team won the Chairman's Award, once again in 2018 at the Hudson Valley Regional the teams second main mentor was awarded the Woodie Flower's Finalist Award at the same regional the teams software captain won the Dean's List Finalist Award, and at the Silicon Valley Regional the team was awarded the Chairman's Award for the second year in a row. Due to the teams success and its revolutionary ideas the team has been constantly covered by local media, in 2017 the newspaper Diario Libre published an article on the team "Dominican geniuses succeed in robotics"Genios dominicanos de la robotica triunfan en torneo Once again in 2017 the team got the attention of the Vice President of the Dominican Republic, the vice president meet with the team to wish them well before the FIRST Championships in Huston.Margarita Cedeño despide a finalistas que representarán al país en competencia de robótica Team Structure The team is divided into three sub-team Hardware, Marketing, and Software. Hardware is in-charge of training all members on the proper use of power tools and is responsible of the physical aspects of the robot. Marketing is in-charge of getting partnerships with local business, managing the teams social media, and the teams public image. Software is tasked with creating the code for the robot. Team Leadership The teams leadership is comprised of eight captains and two main mentors. Each sub-team has 2 co-captains which are in-charge of making sure their sub-team is working properly and completing all tasks at hand. These seven captains are led by an all-team captain which is in-charge of the whole team completing their tasks. This team captain is advised by 2 main mentors who help the team run smoothly. Awards *2013 Orlando Regional Engineering Inspiration Award *2017 Hudson Valley Regional Woodie Flower's Finalist Award *2017 Hudson Valley Regional Chairman's Award *2018 Hudson Valley Regional Woodie Flower's Finalist Award *2018 Hudson Valley Regional Dean's List Finalist Award *2018 Silicon Valley Regional Chairman's Award References